ATLANTA KICKS OFF THEIR OFFSEASON

The Atlanta Silverbacks announced yesterday that they had re-signed former Rhino David Hayes to a new three year contract, as well as re-signing USL 1st Division 1st Team defender Matt Bobo, goalkeeper Felipe Quintero, and midfielder Tony McManus to new two year contracts.

Atlanta also announced that midfielder Alex Pineda-Chacon, defender Antonio De La Torre, defender Adilson DeLima, forward Liam George, backup goalkeeper Shaun Kalnasy, and defender Marlon Rojas will not be back with the Silverbacks in 2007.

The big news is that Pineda-Chacon, the 2001 MLS MVP with the Miami Fusion, will not be back with the Silverbacks. The soon to be 37 year old Honduran has been in Atlanta for the past three seasons. But, his role with the club was vastly reduced in 2006 as he was on the field for less than 900 minutes during the USL 1st Division regular season despite getting into 24 of Atlanta's 28 games.

Apparently having the best regular season record in MLS' Western Conference in 2006 wasn't enough to earn Colin Clarke a new contract with FC Dallas.

Assistant coach Steve Morrow will take over as GM Michael Hitchcock goes about hiring the fourth head coach in the club's history.

Clarke was made the interim head coach late in the 2003 season and then was the man in charge from 2004 through 2006. Clarke had a 41-39-20 record during the MLS regular season at the end of the 2006 season.

In the end, it was FC Dallas' first round playoff loss to the Colorado Rapids that sealed Clarke's fate. It will be interesting to see where FC Dallas turns next in attempt to bring in a coach that can deliver an MLS Cup title to Pizza Hut Park.

Well, all you need is $121.60 CND and a dream as Toronto FC is holding open tryouts for the first 1000 people that sign up at their website.

It will be interesting to see if this yields any real players or if it is just a revenue generating exercise for the club.

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